https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/ tl;dr the military ran a psyops campaign during Trump and early Biden admin to discredit China's sinovac vaccine in the Philippines and other SE Asian countries. They also spread rumors that the vaccine had pork gelatin which would be considered haram under Islam. Facebook flagged those bot accounts to the Pentagon, but were rebuffed and ignored for breaking the terms of service. Angered that military officials had ignored their warning, Facebook officials arranged a Zoom meeting with Biden’s new National Security Council shortly after the inauguration, Reuters learned. The discussion quickly became tense. “It was terrible,” said a senior administration official describing the reaction after learning of the campaign’s pig-related posts. “I was shocked. The administration was pro-vaccine and our concern was this could affect vaccine hesitancy, especially in developing countries.” By spring 2021, the National Security Council ordered the military to stop all anti-vaccine messaging. “We were told we needed to be pro-vaccine, pro all vaccines,” said a former senior military officer who helped oversee the program. Even so, Reuters found some anti-vax posts that continued through April and other deceptive COVID-related messaging that extended into that summer. Reuters could not determine why the campaign didn’t end immediately with the NSC’s order. In response to questions from Reuters, the NSC declined to comment.
Use some critical thinking and you’ll see that Rasmussen did not dismiss any of the claims made by Chan. She dodged the claims while “debunking” straw men. You have to wonder why a scientist would go so hard after another scientist without having the ammunition to back it up.
I think you have it backwards. Chan needs to prove her claims. That was Rasmussen's point. A scientist who is not an expert on either the moon or cheese (Chan) could say the moon is made of cheese. A scientist who is an expert on the moon (Rasmussen) asks for proof. A third party observer (@Agent94 ) wants the moon expert to prove the "the moon is made of cheese" hypothesis. Now what the moon expert scientist is not likely to do is state that the moon nonexpert is 100% wrong ... or ... that she the moon expert is 100% right. If the nonexpert provides solid proof that the moon is made of cheese, the moon expert would accept it ... and likely be very happy about it since "we" now know more about the moon. As an aside ... Political discourse does not work like science. Proof is not needed to support any believes. "Tax cuts pay for themselves" because "tax cuts pay for themselves". Thus, politicians discussing science is pure folly. When asked what "lab leak" actually means, politicians reply "lab leak means lab leak". And we all are none the wiser.
Weird analogy. Chan is a microbiologist, I think she can follow the science. I don't want her to prove anything about lab leak vs zoonosis. Rasmussen claimed that Alina Chan's "Key points aren’t actually very key when they are factually incorrect" and called them lies and bullshit. I'm pointing out she didn't show that any of Chan's claims were untrue.
Chan: Moon is made of cheese. Rasmussen: Moon could be made of cheese, so what is the proof? Chan: ... crickets ... Chan also did not show that her claims were true, that is her responsibility since she is the one making the claims. She can be safely ignored until she does.
The Real Covid Failure Its superfast spread told us early the virus was unstoppable and likely lab-modified. You didn’t think any question related to Covid would be settled in the recent congressional grilling of Anthony Fauci and you were right. That’s why the episode came and went from your news feed with barely a ripple. Here’s the story that needs to be fleshed out. Covid was a superfast spreader compared with the ordinary flu or even the novel pandemic flu that afflicts mankind once or twice a century. Its superfast spread had a particular outcome in Wuhan, Northern Italy and New York City, where the virus spread unrecognized for weeks and severe cases, though a small percentage of the total, reached a critical mass that overwhelmed hospitals. Where communities anticipated the virus and people made small adjustments, these catastrophes weren’t repeated. A vast fog of recrimination since has obscured this part of the story. Our efforts did nothing to stop Covid and yet all but extinguished the flu during the two years in question. One variety, the so-called Yamagata B strain, appears to have been rendered extinct altogether by social-distancing efforts that had zero effect on Covid itself. That’s how fast-spreading Covid was, and how uncontainable. Stop here: If Covid’s uniquely rapid spread was due to a lab modification, as accumulating circumstantial evidence suggests, that’s extremely important to know. Back to the story: Most people’s experience of Covid wasn’t going to be bad enough to justify lockdowns. They wouldn’t voluntarily stop normal living; the spread wasn’t going to be curtailed. On the same day President Trump received a report saying the virus had potential to be a trillion-dollar calamity, I wrote that it was already certainly spreading undetected in New York City and was less deadly than reported thanks to unobserved mild or symptomless cases. I was channeling what epidemiologists were thinking at the time. Scientists, it’s true, would end up surrendering to the politicians, but the real story is that the politicians surrendered to the public, which wanted to be told an unrealistic story about the virus being stamped out. The turning point came when the Trump administration extended its 15-day stay-at-home guidance after polling showed the public didn’t want “flatten the curve,” it wanted to be spared Covid altogether, though all knew this was impossible. If you wonder why the Covid experience is playing no role in the election or slightly favors Mr. Trump, this is why. Americans by now have experienced the disease and realize it was far from unendurable. The lockdowns were needless destruction. Vaccine mandates were not going to stop the spread (though the vaccine itself reduced the risk of severe outcomes in vulnerable patients). READ MORE BUSINESS WORLD If a Ukraine Deal Is Possible, Can Biden Deliver?June 21, 2024 Surprise, Tesla Investors Vote for a Higher Share PriceJune 14, 2024 Mr. Biden is now more associated with the failed medical establishment and post-Covid inflation than Mr. Trump is. Test, trace and quarantine was absurd and worthless when 90% of infections went unreported. Mask mandates undoubtedly caused some vulnerable people to die because they believed a mask would protect them. These steps were a political show as the virus made its inevitable way through the population, while politicians competed to suggest how valiantly they were trying to stop it. It was a hand-waving show, unbelievably expensive and wasteful. And lacking was corrective reporting from our press. The essence of our folly was a fetishizing by the news media of a pathologically stupid “confirmed case count,” which made the virus seem more deadly, rare and stoppable than it was, justifying a tone of media blame against any politician who seemed insufficiently committed to stopping it. I noted at the time another large democratic country with an English-language press, India, where cognitive realism led reporters to relegate “confirmed case” reports to the bottom of news accounts. Their reporting focused on antibody studies showing the real spread to be 20 or 30 times greater. I choose the phrase cognitive realism to contrast with the U.S. press, which picks sides among political leaders and filters reality through a need to valorize its favorites and vilify the baddies. The culmination was Joe Biden’s absurdly unscientific vaccine mandates, designed for a political end, to focus blame for Covid on the media stereotype of a GOP loyalist and Trump supporter. In a democracy, voters get the government they ask for. If so, the most important Covid lesson is the one least mentioned. Read between the lines of today’s newsroom furors at the Washington Post, New York Times and other outlets. The mission of the press still seems dangerously up in the air. The job should be helping the public understand what disciplined factual reasoning can tell us about the world. It’s hard to believe our socio-political Covid outcomes wouldn’t have been a lot better if the media had done so. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-real-covid-failure-fauci-ef8487a3?mod=hp_opin_pos_5#cxrecs_s
Well, I got the rona again. I went on a cruise vacation. Started noticing at the end of the cruise that quite a few of my fellow travelers were coughing. Heard a few say that their spouse was sick back in their room. Started noticing symptoms the next to last day while displaying a minor cough themselves. It sucked having to travel back home while sick. I did mask up on the plane. My wife did not test positive, which is a minor miracle. I guess the vaccines worked better for her.
Yeah, these new variants are even weirder than the old ones. Wife came down w' the 'Rona a couple of days ago. Basically has a bad cold. Blazingly positive on the home tests. But I'm negative, despite like a runny nose sort of thing. Feel fine. Really sorry you got it while traveling. We might have to cancel a trip to the Sierra this coming week (b/c communal meals, all that sort of thing, sigh).
First time, I made a sore throat for one day and a runny nose for two days … but tested positive for 10 days. This time, less of a sore throat and about the same with the runny nose. I also had lost my sense of taste both times, which is why I even bothered to test. I expect to feel fine shortly. My major concern is long covid. **** if I know where I am on that regard.
Yeah, I had only just gotten my sense of smell mostly back from a bad case last summer. And as everyone can tell here, I don't think my brain has been the same since my first bad case, but what are you gonna do? I could always become a black and white political absolutist and not worry so much about reality or details, I guess. MAGA!
Have multiply vaccinated people been diagnosed with long covid? I've presumed long covid was a result of the novel nature of the virus.
